ANOTHER NAVY SHIP DEPLOYMENT SCRATCHED

SD submarine Jefferson City added to no-go list

Add a Navy submarine to the list of San Diego-based ships that won’t deploy in coming months because of federal budget cuts.

U.S. Pacific Fleet announced Friday night that the fast-attack submarine Jefferson City has scratched a planned trip to the U.S. Southern Command region, where the mission is largely to stop drugs coming from South America.

Navy officials in Hawaii also confirmed that another San Diego warship, the frigate Rentz, will definitely stay at its pier in lieu of an expected Southern Command deployment. The Navy had previously announced that change as planned but not certain.

Also previously announced: The San Diego-based frigate Thach will cut short a deployment to South America and return home. The frigate left home Jan. 8 for what was expected to be a six-month trip.

An upcoming deployment of the destroyer Preble has been mentioned as a potential cut, but a Navy official said Saturday there’s no decision yet.